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York Region Transit: Viva service thread

sillytilley said:
  • All VIVA routes - late night frequency reductions
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From the document:

"Conventional and Viva service will operate at an approximate 15 minute frequency"

Hopefully this means that they are syncing the schedules (effectively interlining) Viva Blue/Route 98/99, Viva Purple/Route 1, and Viva Orange/Route 77. There shouldn't be too much of a difference in travel times during late nights so this makes sense.

Also I see some opportunities for savings not identified. An example would be eliminating any Route 82 (Valleymede) trip that doesn't connect with a school or GO station - the buses are always empty or practically empty by my observations.
 
Sandpit said:
From the document:

"Conventional and Viva service will operate at an approximate 15 minute frequency"

Hopefully this means that they are syncing the schedules (effectively interlining) Viva Blue/Route 98/99, Viva Purple/Route 1, and Viva Orange/Route 77. There shouldn't be too much of a difference in travel times during late nights so this makes sense.

Also I see some opportunities for savings not identified. An example would be eliminating any Route 82 (Valleymede) trip that doesn't connect with a school or GO station - the buses are always empty or practically empty by my observations.
Click to expand...

Meanwhile, York Region is looking to raise its property taxes to speed up road widening projects. To a degree, I can see YRT removing service on a few routes (I've been on Route 15) but it's really disappointing to see the budget cut, rather than re-allocating resources to build ridership elsewhere. This is the same region that lobbies hard for another subway extension.

If they're planning to consolidate VIVA and local bus service schedules, that means waiting for the bus at separate stops where the Rapidways were built. You'd need to know the schedule to know which stop to wait at - and to get from one stop to the other means waiting at two crosswalks (the Rapidway stops being on the far side, and local stops on the near side).
 
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ShonTron said:
If they're planning to consolidate VIVA and local bus service schedules, that means waiting for the bus at separate stops where the Rapidways were built. You'd need to know the schedule to know which stop to wait at - and to get from one stop to the other means waiting at two crosswalks (the Rapidway stops being on the far side, and local stops on the near side).
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True, but late at night, the majority of riders are travelling from Finch or Richmond Hill Centre and getting off at the on-street stops.
 
Some of those headways are laughable. 57 minutes, 70 minutes, 53 minutes, 68 minutes. And you guys think they can somehow coordinate VIVA and local buses travelling at different speeds.

The problem with YRT is they never built up ridership before they built VIVA. A system like VIVA with all its stations and transitways and fare machines and all-door boarding scheme is a solution for extremely high ridership, not extremely low ridership. You can see cities in the US made the same mistake, building LRT to try to increase ridership, diverting funds away from their already-mediocre regular bus service. That strategy didn't work in the US and not surprisingly it didn't work in York Region either.
 
Quite a lot happening today for transit in the GTA. Just to add onto the pile, the YRT is going to stop selling tickets and monthly passes after November 18. They "sort of" stopped selling paper fares a few years back (starting around 2017 & 2018 when they stopped selling tickets at my community centre), but the TTC contracted routes couldn't accept Presto inside of York so they continued to sell at certain locations. Hopefully, they can replace the ticket validators with an extra ticket machine at the busier viva stops.
Payment option changes coming November 18, 2019
 
doady said:
Some of those headways are laughable. 57 minutes, 70 minutes, 53 minutes, 68 minutes. And you guys think they can somehow coordinate VIVA and local buses travelling at different speeds.

The problem with YRT is they never built up ridership before they built VIVA. A system like VIVA with all its stations and transitways and fare machines and all-door boarding scheme is a solution for extremely high ridership, not extremely low ridership. You can see cities in the US made the same mistake, building LRT to try to increase ridership, diverting funds away from their already-mediocre regular bus service. That strategy didn't work in the US and not surprisingly it didn't work in York Region either.
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I think the Viva rapidways were put in because they had to upgrade the utilities regardless to support all the condos being built/proposed on Highway 7 and Yonge. So it's a matter of "tear up the road to put in bigger pipes/cables, then restore it to its original condition" or "tear up the road to put in bigger pipes/cables, and put in a bus lane while we're at it". It would also explain why the whole Viva project advanced quickly and with relatively few opposition (except for the strech along Bathurst).
 
Work on VIVA in Vaughan is in the home stretch, YRT just posted in their newsroom that VIVA orange will once again run full service between Martin Grove and Richmond Hill on the Weekends/Holidays starting November 3, 2019. Along with this, two new station at Wigwoss - Helen and Commerce will open being served by VIVA orange on November 24 (Viva orange weekend service extended). They have also updated their service changes for November 3 at this link. Since they are giving such short notice to the completion of projects lately, I'm assuming the bus lanes in Woodbridge will be completed around November 24 which isn't too much of a stretch as Weston and Pine Valley seem pretty much done (the stations of Commerce and Wigwoss seem to be more incomplete than the latter from the untrained eye).
 
ViveleCanada said:
Work on VIVA in Vaughan is in the home stretch, YRT just posted in their newsroom that VIVA orange will once again run full service between Martin Grove and Richmond Hill on the Weekends/Holidays starting November 3, 2019. Along with this, two new station at Wigwoss - Helen and Commerce will open being served by VIVA orange on November 24 (Viva orange weekend service extended). They have also updated their service changes for November 3 at this link. Since they are giving such short notice to the completion of projects lately, I'm assuming the bus lanes in Woodbridge will be completed around November 24 which isn't too much of a stretch as Weston and Pine Valley seem pretty much done (the stations of Commerce and Wigwoss seem to be more incomplete than the latter from the untrained eye).
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Work seemed to move fairly quickly between Pine Valley Dr and Wigwoss.

I don't think they are building VIVA Rapidways West of Wigwoss as the CP Bridge over Hwy 7 prevents expansion of the rod beyond it's current 5 lane form. Would be nice if CN could get on board with renovating that bridge.
 
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Woodbridge_Heights said:
Work seemed to move fairly quickly between Pine Valley Dr and Wigwoss.

I don't think they are building VIVA Rapidways West of Wigwoss as the CN Bridge over Hwy 7 prevents expansion of the rod beyond it's current 5 lane form. Would be nice if CN could get on board with renovating that bridge.
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That's a CP bridge.
 
In December, the Centre/Bathurst section of the Highway 7 Rapidway will open. This means that the majority of the Viva Orange route will operate in a dedicated bus lane (at least in 1 direction). Some argue the low frequency along this route makes it difficult to justify the price of construction or if it can even be called "mass transit". I really hope that one way or another, the ridership and frequency of the route can improve – perhaps as new developments pop up near this corridor.
Viva Orange.png
 
What is the barcode reader for? Single ride prestige tickets?

Also does it still show balance?
 
The 2020 YRT budget is being presented to the York Region Committee of the Whole on December 5. Among the service cuts proposed:

  • 55 Davis Drive to be discontinued - 55B Davis Drive will continue to operate in rush hours only (2020).
  • 10 Woodbridge reduced to rush hours only (2020).
  • 40 Unionville Local - Saturday (2021), Sunday (2020), and On-Request (2021) service discontinued.
  • 41 Markham Local - Saturday (2021), Sunday (2020), and On-Request (2021) service discontinued.
  • 13 Islington Saturday service discontinued (2020).
  • 12 Pine Valley reduced to rush hours only (2021).
  • 23 Thornhill Woods reduced to rush hours only (2021).
  • 44 Bristol reduced to rush hours and Saturday only (2021). Saturday evening On-Request service will continue.
  • 3 Thornhill weekend service reduced to roughly 85 minutes (2021).
  • 26 Maple Sunday service discontinued (2021).
  • 7 Martin Grove Saturday service reduced to roughly 72 minutes (2021).
  • 18 Bur Oak Saturday service discontinued (2021).
  • On-Demand Blue Willow and Maple Glen discontinued (2021).
  • TAP Program budget reduced by 40% (2020).
  • Service increase budget reduced: 2.1 million for additional services planned in 2020, 2.6 million in 2021, 2.65 million in 2022.
  • Ticket validators and multi-ride machines will be removed in time for 2021. Based on the budgeted amount seems like tickets will no longer be accepted starting around September 2020.
  • Rapidway station cleaning will be reduced from bi-weekly to monthly.
Woodbridge would be hit hard by those cuts. Without those service, there is very limited weekend service from Woodbridge to North Etobicoke.

More information: https://yorkpublishing.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=9604
 
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